Endless band and method of manufacturing the same.



T; SLOPER.

ENDLESS BAND AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.

ATlON FILED NOV. I8, 1915.

APPLIC 1,223,742. Patented Apr. 24,1917.

2 EEEEEEEEEE ET- I.

T. SLOPER.

ENDLESS BAND AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.

APPLICATION HLED NOV. I8. 1915.

1,223,742. Patented Apr. 24,1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- THOMAS SLOPEB, OF DEVIZES, ENGLAND.

-E1\TDI|ESS BAND AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THESAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

Application filed November 18, 1915. Serial No. 62,198.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS SLOPER, a subject of the King of England,residing at Devizes, in Wiltshire, England, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Endless Bands and Methods of Manufacturingthe Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to the manufacture ofendless bands and has for its object to provide a method of manufactureof endless bands of a particularly light caliber, such as are suitablefor use as tapes in cigarette manufacturing machines.

These tapes need to have considerable tensile strength, but must be thinand pliable, and the exterior must be free from all projections whichcould cause increased frietion as they have to be pulled through dies ata considerable speed and any projections would soon result in thedestruction of the band or tape.

It has been proposed to build up drivingbelts by winding cord helicallyacross -op posed rollers, the cord being stretched between them, andthen when a band of sufficient width has been obtained in this manner,embedding the cords in rubber, with or without a covering of canvasbeing first placed around them, and then vulcanizing the whole together.

Further, it has been proposed to substitute for leather belts, adriving-belt built up by mounting an endless band of cloth, whose widthis more than twice thatof the band required, upon opposed pulleys, andthen winding thereon a single helical layer of cords which areagglutinated together and to the cloth band with material other thanrubber, such as gelatin, and finally folding the edges of the cloth-bandover thecords so that they overlap oneanother down the center of theband thus produced.

With neither of these processes can a band or tape be produced which isof sufficiently light weight and smooth surface for use in cigarettemachines or other purposes where a band similar to that used incigarette machines would be useful. It is found that in making such alight band, the threads which are to be laid upon the fabric base cannotbe made to adhere properly if they are laid on this base when stretchedbetween rollers,

nor can the threads be made to adhere to one another satisfactorily ifthey are wound on opposed rollers without any canvas base; moreover, inthis method of building up a band, placing the canvas cover around thethreads afterward when the band is of such a light caliber, isdifficult, and it is not desirable' to bed them in rubber because thismakes the band too heavy.

The method of making endless bands ac cording to this invention consistsin wrapping a strip of fine canvas around the periphery of a circularformer, winding a layer of threads in a spiral on the canvas, andapplying a layer of fine canvas on the outer'face of this layer ofthreads, for example by folding the free edges of the can vas stripwhich may be made wide enough for this purpose over the layer ofthreads, a thin coating of rubber being incorporated between the threadsand those faces of the canvas which are toward the same.

The vulcanizing is preferably efiected in amold such as is described inthe specification of my concurrent United States patent application No.62,197, filed November 18, 1915, which matured Sept. 19, 1916 intoPatent No. 1,198,875.

For such aband or tape it is preferred that the thickness of the canvasand threads should not exceed .01 of an inch and .04 of an inchrespectively; the total thickness of the band if these extrememeasurements were employed would thus be .06 of an inch.

For use in some types of cigarette-male ing' machines, it has been founddesirable to have a tape which shall be so constructed as to lend itselfmore readily to being folded at the ed es as a whole or along apredetermined line or none than in the general body of the tape. Thefolding referred to is required to take place longitudinally of the tapeand for certain classes of work along two sides or lines on either sideof the center line of the tape. According to this part of the invention,the thickness of the longitudinal threads is reduced along the lineswhere folding is to occur, and this reduction may be infinite, thethreads being entirely omitted at these parts so that only the canvascovering remains.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of partlaying the threads thereon.

of a former with a band in process of building thereon, the parts beingshown in part section for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the same parts but showing themanufacture of the band carried farther;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing part of a band which is similar tothe band shown in Figs. 1 and 2 but is so constructed as to creasereadily longitudinally;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of part of a band constructed according toanother method whereby the edges are thinner and more flexible than thecenter;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through a band made according to Fig. 3;and

Fig. 6 is a transverse section through the same band showing the curvedform it takes when passing through the cigarette making machine.

The same letters indicate the same parts in all the figures.

The former A may be of metal and may be in the form of anendless ring.Around the periphery of this, a strip of fine canvas B is placed. Thiscanvas is cut on the bias and is preferably not more than .01 of an inchin thickness, and if it is to be wrapped over the threads afterward laidthereon, it may be of more than twice the width of the required band.The canvas is coated with rubber on that side which faces away from theformer prior to The threads C are preferably rubbered, i. 6. passedthrough rubber solution in their manufacture or prior to use, and arewound in the form of a close spiral and as a single layer on the centralportion of the canvas strip; Fig. 1 shows this layer partiallycompleted.

The layer of threads may then be coated with rubber solution and theedges of the canvas B wrapped over the outer face of the layer ofthreads, the said edges overlapping along the center of the layer, asshown in Fig.2; this completes the building up of the band, and thewhole is then vulcanized together.

i It is found that by cutting the canvas B on the bias, the band is lesseasily distorted in use than is the case when the canvas is cut straightwith its threads running parallel to and at right-angles to the threadsC.

.No rubber is applied to that side of. the canvas which finally becomesthe outside of the band, and that which is applied on the side next thethreads is only a thin layer, as will be appreciated by the fact thatthe whole band when finished is not more than .06 of an inch inthickness andusually does not exceed .02 of an inch.

One of the functions of the tape of the cigarette machine is to carryand roll up the paper with which the cigarettes are made and it has beenfound desirable for some classes of work to so construct the tape thatit lends itself more readily to being folded at the edges as a whole oralong a predetermined line or zone than in the general body of the tape.The folding referred to is required to take place longitudinally of thetape and it is desirable that the folding shall take place along twolines or zones, one on either side ofthe center line of .the tape.

Another feature of the present invention therefore consists in soconstructing a tape of the kind described above, that it will offer lessresistance to folding along its edges or along a line or zone extendinglongitudinally of the tape than it does in the general body of the tape.A method of obtaining-the desired creasing or folding along apredetermined line is shown in Fig. 3 where gaps C are left between thethreads so that the sides of the tape will fold over readily along thelines of the two gaps. To form these gaps, threads are omitted. Forexample, the layer may be wound on first in its entirety, and thosewhere the gaps are to be provided are removed.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through a finished band made according toFig. 3, the lines of creasing being indicated at K, and Fig. 6 shows theshape the band takes when passing through the cigarette making machine.Such aband is particularly useful for making cigarettes of the shapesuggested by Fig. 6 and it will be seen that the band is made to bend ata sharp angle on each side at K where the channels K are situated whichbend would not be easily obtainable without the channels.

Another method isshown in Fig. 4 where the central threads C are largerthan the side threads C so that theedges of the band are rendered lessstiff than the central portion. Obviously the spaces C could be filledwith threads such as C which threads would be smaller than the threads Cso that i Y the band would still tend to fold along the lines C thoughthe resistance to such folding would be greater than would be the casewith no threads along the parts C.

If the band is vulcanized after being built up, it will be appreciatedthat if this were done in an ordinary sectional mold, moldlines or markswould be formed on the band at the points where the sections joined andthese would cause the band to wear badly in passing through the dies. Toavoid'this, the mold described in my concurrent United States Patent No.1,198,875 may be employed for vulcanizing the band. The material neednot be incorporated with rubber, but may be held together by anyadhesive material, rubber or rubber solution only being referred to asone convenient means for securing the parts of the band together andsuch a mold as is referred to in the concurrent United States patentapplication No. 1,198,87 5 may be used to press and dry it.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis 1. The method of making endless bands of particularly smooth exteriorand great flexibility suitable for folding the cigarette papers incigarette machines consisting in wrapping a strip of canvas whosethickness does not exceed .01 of an inch around the periphery of acircular former, winding a layer of threads whose thickness does notexceed .04: of an inch in a spiral on the canvas, and applying a layerof fine canvas on the outer face of this layer of threads, a thincoating of an adhesive being incorporated between the threads and thosefaces of the canvas which are toward the same, the thickness of all thematerials used being such that the total thickness of the bandwhen'finished is not more than .06 of an inch.

2. The method of making endless bands consisting in wrapping a strip offine canvas around the periphery of a circular former, winding a layerof threads in a spiral on the canvas, and applying a layer of finecanvas on the outer face of this layer of threads by folding the freeedges of the canvas strip, which may be made wide enough for thispurpose, over the layer of threads, a thin coating of an adhesive beingincorporated between the threads and those faces of the canvas which aretoward the same.

3. The method of making endless bands consisting in wrapping a strip offine canvas around the periphery of a circular former, winding a layerof threads in a spiral on the canvas but reducing the thickness of thelayer laid over predetermined longitudinally disposed zones along whichit is desired the band shall be more flexible, and applying a layer offine canvas on the outer face of this layer of threads, a thin coatingof an adhesive being incorporated between the threads and those faces ofthe canvas which are toward the same, substantially as set forth.

4. The method of making endless bands consisting in wrapping a strip offine canvas around the periphery of a circular former, winding a layerof threads in a spiral on the canvas but reducing the thickness of thelayer by omitting the threads at predetermined longitudinally disposedzones along which it is desired the band shall crease, and applying alayer of fine canvas on the outer face of this layer of threads, a thincoating of an adhesive being incorporated between the threads and thosefaces of the canvas which are toward the same, substantially as setforth.

5. An endless band of particularly smooth exterior and great flexibilitysuitable for folding the cigarette papers in cigarette machines,consisting in a strip of canvas whose thickness does not exceed .01 ofan inch and whose ends are joined to make it into an endless band, alayer of threads thereon whose thickness does not exceed 0% of an inchsuch threads being laid in a spiral circumferentially around the endlesscanvas strip, and a layer of fine canvas on the threads, the whole beingconnected together by an adhesive incorporated between the threads andthose faces of the canvas which are toward the same the thickness of allthe materials used being such that the total thickness of the band whenfinished is not more than .06 of an inch.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS SLOPER.

Witnesses:

A. M. HAYWARD, RONALD S. DoLLnYMoRn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for. five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

